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Mercury Interactive to Miss Filing Deadline

Bill Snyder

Shares of Mercury Interactive(MERQE) were pummeled Tuesday after the business-software maker announced that it will not meet an already extended deadline to file its June and September quarterly results.

The delay could result in a delisting action by the Nasdaq, which said earlier that it would not grant another extension.

Mercury acknowledged that possibility, saying that it has asked that for an expedited relisting procedure if indeed it loses the right to be traded on the Nasdaq.

Shares were off $1.30, or 4% to $30.06 in recent trading.

CEO Amnon Landan, CFO Douglas Smith and general counsel Susan Skaer resigned in November after a special committee at the company found that they benefited from a program to favorably price option grants.

The special committee was formed in June to conduct an internal investigation of Mercury's past stock option grants after the Securities and Exchange Commission started an inquiry. The committee found that, beginning in 1995, there were 49 instances in which the stated date of a stock option grant was different from the date on which the option appears to have actually been granted.

The company said in a press release that it has "completed a significant amount of the work required to finish our restatement, and we have strong visibility into the steps we need to take to ensure that our restated financials meet Nasdaq requirements." The company said it needed more time to complete the heavy volume of work needed to complete the restatement.

Commenting on the action, J.P. Morgan said Tuesday that a delisting and subsequent uncertainty around relisting will make the equity unownable for some investors and in itself will pressure the stock.

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